Archie’s Shadow

Bio:

Early Life
In College, Archibald “Archie” Faustius had studied archaeology and was determined to find rational, scientific explanations for the great mysteries of the universe attributed in that time, the late 1890’s, to the supernatural. His career in Archaeology was cut short after 1905, when on an expedition to Argentina he discovered a set of rare antique books, predating the European settlement of the area, and not belonging to any indigenous Argentinian peoples. Fascinated by the books and what they signaled about human history, he returned to New England to seek help researching them from his former colleagues at University.

Obsession
This study kept him occupied for many years, and by the latter half of 1914 he had amassed a huge collection of rare books which he had been using to further his inquiries into the Argentine Codex. Grant money running out, Archie turned to the only asset he still had, and he became the quiet owner of a small bookstore in New England. After many years of collecting esoterica he eventually became convinced of the truth of the more obscure mythologies and books pertaining to the occult. In search of the truth and guided by a book which appeared to unlock the mysteries of the Argentine Codex, in 1921 he joined an archaeological expedition to the Ural Mountains.

Fateful decision
The ill-fated expedition lasted two years, and he was the sole survivor. Starving, battered and confused, Archie was found in the high mountain passes, gibbering about goats and dwarves. He spent decades in an asylum in the Soviet Union, gradually coming to terms with the death of all of his search crew, although he continued for the remainder of his incarceration to drift in and out of sanity.

Decline
As the concerned doctors sought more and more powerful remedies, including psychopharmacological and elecro-shock therapies and surgeries, he became more and more convinced that the orderlies and staff were servitors of dark agencies – sometimes they were aliens, sometimes cultists of destructive ancient gods, and others malevolent demons. Despite the advanced use of the technologies of Psychiatric Care available, when Archibald passed, he had lived inside his own head, being served and tormented by his own traumas for nearly a decade.

Death
He was buried in a shallow grave in the Ukraine, behind the Glorious People’s Sanitary Health and Restoration Facility on a lovely spring day in May, 1951. The only people in attendance were his primary doctor, which was the 4th he had been under the care of in 30 years, and the only two orderlies at the hospital who had known him since his admittance, both of whom were dwarves.

Postmortem

Mentor
When Archie first arrived in the Shadowlands, like many, he was unsure if this was real. Fortunately for him, one of the first contacts he made was a friend – a lawman from the wild west, Ezekiel Stone. This cowboy wouldn’t stand for innocent souls being stolen and soulforged and he slowly, if impatiently, helped Archie understand the way of the world now. Ezekiel loses patience with Archie quickly when Archie slips back into his insanities, but ol’ Zeke hasn’t quite told the crazy old man to push off just yet.

Contacts
With Ol’ Zeke’s help, Archie has made contact with a good fence, “Lacey” Jane Smith. Lacey Jane was a scoundrel from the streets of London in life, and now she trades information, or goods, if the price is right.

Allies
Good friends are hard to find in the Shadowlands, and even rarer ones that are polar opposites. One of Archie’s only friends though is just one of these people – an ignorant, anti-egalitarian ruffian from South America. Pacali was a warrior among the Aztecs when Cortez slaughtered millions, and he has a passionate hatred for all white devils. Pacali has been in the Shadowlands long enough to learn to hate the bookish, brainy ones that think they are so superior, so it surprised everyone when he came to Archie’s defense one day. They both have that glint in their eyes of having seen things that maybe men weren’t meant to see, and while Pacali is seldom kind to Archie, Archie suspects that Pacali’s people may have had something to do with the Argentine Codex.